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Here’s a hypothesis everyone with chronic back pain should consider: because you sit at a desk all day and never lift heavy stuff, the natural process of atroph

Here’s a hypothesis everyone with chronic back pain should consider: because you sit at a desk all day and never lift heavy stuff, the natural process of atrophy has made your back too weak to support normal, day to day activity, causing your back to be sore all the time. If you want to test this hypothesis, all it takes is about 3 weeks of deadlifting 3x per week (takes about 20 minutes per workout, so an hour total per week). Could be the best 3 hours you ever invest in anything your whole life.

KennyCason 8y ago
I was about to mention this as well. In the list of things the author tried, they didn’t mention strength training. Since I started deadlifts, rack lifts, and more strength training in general I have had no back problems. Granted I’m sure this isn’t the solution for everyone of course, but with more desk zombies, I’m sure it’s more relevant than ever.
- subpixel 8y ago
  Just a reminder that any barbell lifts involving real weight can be as harmful as helpful if you are not properly trained or (like me) not smart about respecting your body’s limits. Deadlifts especially.
  - KennyCason 8y ago
    Most definitely. Must respect the weight. Ironically, I originally injured my back when lifting weights. In my case I was just being sloppy and beer may have been involved. :) This has been a hard lesson.
sizzle 8y ago
I can confirm this works for me, starting strength had changed my life in this regard. The mobile app has a phenomenal UX too for tracking progress with lifts, highly recommend it to anyone able bodied and looking to get into bar exercises for health reasons.
minothgd 8y ago
Sure, until you herniate your lower back doing deadlifts. Then what?
- toasterlovin 8y ago
  You're not going to herniate a disc getting up to a 135lb deadlift. But a 135lb deadlift would probably make most people's chronic lower back pain go away.
  - blub 8y ago
    One can easily injure their spine lifting 10kg, nevermind ~60, as you claim.
    - toasterlovin 8y ago
      Yeah, I guess I should have specified that I'm assuming you're not trying to DL 135 on your first workout.
    - bsaul 8y ago
      recommending deadlifting to people with backpain sounds completely insane. At the minimum they should tell to do strength exercice under the strict supervision of a very good professional
      - bertjk 8y ago
        How does one identify a very good professional? Serious question. I want to get started but I have no idea how to know who to trust.
        toasterlovin 8y ago
        Look for a Starting Strength coach here: https://startingstrength.org/site/coaches https://startingstrength.org/site/coaches
        8y ago
buserror 8y ago
If you want to get the advantage of weights without the potential injuries, do very, very VERY slow reps with very small weights. That's what I do, i'm quite muscular, but I do work on my shoulders with 4kg weights, no more. But my rep lasts a good 20 seconds (or more, the slower, the better). PER rep. I can tell you you'll feel it very quickly, you certainly don't need a ton to get a serious workout! And and I'd like to concur, 15 years ago I had massive back/neck pain, and doing the weights on a regular basis completely cured that. Same 3 exercises.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  Very small weights .. if you're already overweight then you're lifting quite a lot as is. Probably any new "lifting" regime should start with only body weight? I had crippling back pain [literally, it put me to the floor, unable even to crawl] in the lower back that seems to have been guarded against with weekly Shotokan karate sessions - my hypothesis is that my sacroiliac joint was "tight" and that the emphasis on low stances and hip-rotation has loosened/strengthened it sufficiently to avoid damage. I did manage to damage my hamstring setting off to run though, now I warm up before I warm up!

KennyCason 8y ago

I was about to mention this as well. In the list of things the author tried, they didn’t mention strength training. Since I started deadlifts, rack lifts, and more strength training in general I have had no back problems. Granted I’m sure this isn’t the solution for everyone of course, but with more desk zombies, I’m sure it’s more relevant than ever.

subpixel 8y ago
Just a reminder that any barbell lifts involving real weight can be as harmful as helpful if you are not properly trained or (like me) not smart about respecting your body’s limits. Deadlifts especially.
- KennyCason 8y ago
  Most definitely. Must respect the weight. Ironically, I originally injured my back when lifting weights. In my case I was just being sloppy and beer may have been involved. :) This has been a hard lesson.

sizzle 8y ago

I can confirm this works for me, starting strength had changed my life in this regard. The mobile app has a phenomenal UX too for tracking progress with lifts, highly recommend it to anyone able bodied and looking to get into bar exercises for health reasons.

minothgd 8y ago

Sure, until you herniate your lower back doing deadlifts. Then what?

toasterlovin 8y ago
You're not going to herniate a disc getting up to a 135lb deadlift. But a 135lb deadlift would probably make most people's chronic lower back pain go away.
- blub 8y ago
  One can easily injure their spine lifting 10kg, nevermind ~60, as you claim.
  - toasterlovin 8y ago
    Yeah, I guess I should have specified that I'm assuming you're not trying to DL 135 on your first workout.
  - bsaul 8y ago
    recommending deadlifting to people with backpain sounds completely insane. At the minimum they should tell to do strength exercice under the strict supervision of a very good professional
    - bertjk 8y ago
      How does one identify a very good professional? Serious question. I want to get started but I have no idea how to know who to trust.
      - toasterlovin 8y ago
        Look for a Starting Strength coach here: https://startingstrength.org/site/coaches https://startingstrength.org/site/coaches
      - 8y ago

buserror 8y ago

If you want to get the advantage of weights without the potential injuries, do very, very VERY slow reps with very small weights. That's what I do, i'm quite muscular, but I do work on my shoulders with 4kg weights, no more. But my rep lasts a good 20 seconds (or more, the slower, the better). PER rep. I can tell you you'll feel it very quickly, you certainly don't need a ton to get a serious workout! And and I'd like to concur, 15 years ago I had massive back/neck pain, and doing the weights on a regular basis completely cured that. Same 3 exercises.

pbhjpbhj 8y ago
Very small weights .. if you're already overweight then you're lifting quite a lot as is. Probably any new "lifting" regime should start with only body weight? I had crippling back pain [literally, it put me to the floor, unable even to crawl] in the lower back that seems to have been guarded against with weekly Shotokan karate sessions - my hypothesis is that my sacroiliac joint was "tight" and that the emphasis on low stances and hip-rotation has loosened/strengthened it sufficiently to avoid damage. I did manage to damage my hamstring setting off to run though, now I warm up before I warm up!